Administering medication or supplemental nutrients orally to an infant often presents problems, not only with the physical aspects of swallowing dosage forms such as tablets, but also, in a typical case of the older infant, with apprehensive refusal to ingest anything "good for you". It is not practical or safe to administer tablets, then, to the very young. It is also often desirable to be able to add supplemental nutrients or medicaments or other beneficial agents very simply to the liquid diet of an infant or an older adult on a made-to-order basis where the quantities do not justify commercially prepared products.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,906 describes and claims a device for dispensing a medication into an infant formula in a nursing bottle specially equipped with a syringe-holding sleeve axially disposed within the bottle, the syringe delivering medication through the sleeve within the bottle and adjacent the attached nipple during nursing upon the care giver pressing the plunger of the syringe. This approach has the disadvantage of requiring the use of prepared liquid form medications drawn from bottles or vials as well as the use of sterile syringes and their handling.